I am a firm believer that blessings are real. Today’s post is about a blessing that I received on behalf of Healing Haiti.

While we were in Haiti we travelled around in vehicles known as tap-taps. Inside it gets a little cramped on occasion but there are rails to hang on when the road gets bumpy so that everyone doesn’t get thrown around. It works great for apes like me with long arms. Smaller people have a little harder time. In the newest member of the fleet the rails are a little higher up and it presented a problem for at least one member of our team.

I had the bright idea to get some hanging straps like you see on buses and subways to make things easier. The problem is that most of the companies that sell them only sell them in lots of 2400 or so. Healing Haiti didn’t need but 24. I did find one manufacturer who sold lots of 30 on their website and I sent them a request for a quote on their Igostrap. That company is Faigle.eu. They’re in Austria.

A few days later I got a response to my email. They wanted to donate the straps to us and asked only that we pay the freight. That was still pretty expensive. I responded to their generous offer with a request that they ponder a cheaper shipping method. They found one and I was thrilled. Exactly what we needed for our vehicles. As a matter of fact, state of the art – the plastics they use are anti-microbial and will work to kill the germs that you encounter while working in the slums for years to come. This can only be good news to the missionaries in the group. And it far exceeded anything I had started to look for in my search. This was a true blessing.

Payment was the only sticking point as international funds transfer is a pain. Bank to bank wires are almost as much as the shipping fees. I sent the funds Paypal just two days ago – when the straps arrived.

As you can see they are beautiful and ideal for what we need.

And the wonderful people at Faigle did it as a gift of love to make our mission in Haiti a little easier to accomplish. I say “we” and “our” because I’m falling in love with the idea of making Haiti a part of my life for the long term. And Healing Haiti will definitely be a part of that equation.

I will post some pictures of the straps once they have been installed. In the meantime, please join me in praying for the people at Faigle in appreciation of their kind and generous gift.

Have you ever responded to a request by turning it into a gift? Will you now view that as a possibility?

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Today’s keyword bingo entry is: Schlagobers – in honor of our friends at Faigle. It describes them wonderfully – an unexpected treat full of sweetness.